17-year old sensation Bruno Mulders fended off late challenges from Thomas Krasonis to secure his maiden EuroNASCAR OPEN victory at Oschersleben.
A new race winner was crowned in Saturday’s EuroNASCAR OPEN race at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. Bruno Mulders held off Thomas Krasonis’ late challenge to secure a breakthrough victory for the 17-year old Dutchman.
The victory was the result of not just Mulders’ brilliance, but also Team Bleekemolen’s teamwork. Mulders almost missed the start altogether after he got involved in the start crash at the preceding EuroNASCAR PRO race.
Team Bleekemolen worked hard to get the No. 72 Toyota Camry repaired. The repair work was finished just in time for the last call to start in their original grid positions.
Mulders nailed his start and with the car back in perfect condition, he was able to open up a 1.7 second advantage to Thomas Toffel on the opening laps.
Thomas Krasonis soon caught up to Toffel, but Oschersleben’s layout made it difficult for the Greek to make the pass. He got his opportunity on lap 7, passing Toffel at Hasseroder after the Swiss ran wide.
Mulders’ lead evaporated shortly after, following an inopportune encounter with Mike Wise and Vanessa “Happinessa” Neumann. He and Krasonis stayed nose-to-tail for the last half of the race, but Mulders had just enough in his tank to win at the checkered flag.
“I’m so happy it finally happened during the season,” said Mulders in Victory Lane. “We worked so hard with the team before the race and got the car ready just in time. The battle with Thomas was excellent; it was fair racing and quite intense, to be honest.”
Krasonis takes solace in the fact that a runner-up finish extended his advantage to Martin Doubek in the championship standings. Gil Linster completed the podium after the Luxembourger ran down Toffel.
Toffel struggled to keep his car on the track in the closing stages, but his advantage to Claudio Remigio Cappelli was big enough for the Race Art Technology driver to secure fourth place.
Cappelli returned to Legend Trophy’s top step in fifth ahead of Thomas Dombrowski. Doubek’s struggles continue as seventh is the best that the reigning champion can do. Jordan O’Brien, Sandro Tavartkiladze and Andres Beers completed the top-10.
Another championship contender with a tough race is Melvin de Groot. De Groot acknowledged that Team Bleekemolen had setup issues in his No. 69 Toyota Camaro and vowed to find a fix for Sunday’s race.
Loris Cencetti finished 13th in his debut EuroNASCAR OPEN race. Marko Stipp Motorsport teammate Gordon Barnes made a successful return from injury by finishing 20th.
Patrick Schober’s race went disastrously after he and Doubek made contact at Triple with only three laps to go. The contact took down Schober’s front-right tire and he was forced to retire shortly after.
Vanessa nearly joined Schober in the sidelines when her No. 77 OnlyFans Camaro acted up again pre-race. Late repairs forced her to start the race many laps down, but ran a good race despite being classified in 23rd and last.
EuroNASCAR OPEN Race 1 Results
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